Recently I have been thinking about the topic of predestination. Such a mystery can not be exhausted, therefore my meditations have been cloudy on this issues, yet something has struck me in the past few days. I had previously agreed with the position of Saint Thomas that the Incarnation of the Logos would not have occured if mankind had not sinned as He was sent to heal the sick. However, from all eternity the Lord was aware that His rational creatures on earth would turn from Him, and He permitted it. It is untenable to assert that this sin was desirable, not per se, however, in His inscrutable Wisdom, the Father has brought about a greater good by sending His Son. A thought occured to me that the sin of Adam truly was a 'felix culpa', where at the appointed the Eternal Creator assumes flesh and dwells among us.
I truly accepted the belief that nothing on this earth takes place without God's will, ordaining (positive) or permissive. He Who Is could have ordered His creation in such a manner, without destroying free will, that sin would be unthinkable. He could have arranged particular circumstances, performed some miracle in the viewing of Adam, gifted our first parents with a superior intelligence etc. Yet, it was deemed 'acceptable', if such a word may be used, that they are cast from Eden so that God may dwell with man. As Aristotle stated, it is good for friends to spend time together.
Nothing can occur before the divine will, it is not activated by a knowledge of man's actions. This is so as it is only through the divine will that the acts of men have the possibility to occur. Therefore the question is, could it have been otherwise than man fell....?
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